Will Fauji Factor Work?

Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha (URM), a regional political outfit which was launched four months back, is likely to make a dent into the votebanks of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttarakhand. Founded by former BJP MP Lt Gen (retd) TPS Rawat, the party claims to enjoy the support base among ex-soldiers and their families in the state.

With an organisational team of ex-army officers and para-military officers, URM is hopeful of winning at least seven seats in the state. The known faces in the party include faujis such as Brig (retd) Jagmohan Rawat and Brig (retd) Raju Rawat of Garhwal Rifles and General (retd) Shailendra Raj Bahuguna of Kumaon Regiment, Bahuguna also happens to be a close relative of chief minister Maj Gen (retd) BC Khanduri. Read More...Hindustan Times

Benefit Schemes for Ex-servicemen

Andhra Pradesh State government is providing several schemes for the benefit of ex servicemen and their widows, said District Sainik Welfare Officer G. Satyanandam.

Under the Prime Minister Self Employment Scheme, the government will provide loans ranging between Rs.5 lakh and Rs.25 lakh from banks.

The government will give 25 to 35 per cent subsidy on the loan and the beneficiaries should bear five per cent of the investment cost.

Interested retired Army, Navy and Airforce staff are requested to avail the opportunities, said Mr.Satyanandam.

Published in THE HINDU: Vijayawada

Global Peace Palace a ‘monument for war heroes’

ALAPPUZHA: Chief minister Oommen Chandy will inaugurate Global Peace Palace, a monument for war heroes and victims of terror attacks built by AKB Kumar, an ex-service man, at Thumboli near here on January 27. The construction of the monument, a replica of Agra's Taj Mahal, started on January 28, 2008.

"I have spent Rs1.25 crore for constructing this monument dedicated to India's war heroes who sacrificed their lives for the nation," said 61-year-old Kumar at a press conference.

Kumar was a chief petty officer in the Indian Navy. He had joined the Navy at the age of 15. During his 18 years of service, he participated in the Indo-Pak war in 1971. Read more.

RS committee urges ‘one rank-one pension’ for ESM

As published by The Pioneer, Rajya Sabha Committee on petitions on Monday,19th December, 2011, urged the Government to grant ‘one rank-one pension’ for ex-servicemen and said Rs 1,300 crore needed to meet this long pending demand which is not a “very big amount for a country of our size and economy”.

In its report tabled in the Upper House, the committee said, “It is not convinced with the version of the Finance Ministry that the grant of ‘one rank-one pension’ for defence personnel would eventually generate similar requests from the civilian work force under the Central and State Governments.

“It feels so because of the quite different terms and conditions of service of the two different categories of employments. The terms and conditions of the armed forces are tougher and harsher than the civilian Government employee. There are restrictions of fundamental risks to the armed forces and their family life is also non-comparable due to transfers and dislocation.”

As regards the projected financial liability of Rs 1,300 crore, the committee noted that “out of this amount Rs 1,065 crore would go to personnel below officer rank (PBOR) while the commissioned officers would be getting Rs 235 crore”.

Keeping in view this fact that officers constitute a small proportion of the entire defence forces, the Committee said, “It strongly recommends that this may be implemented so as to keep up the morale of the services.” The ex-servicemen are agitating for ‘one rank-one pension’ for the last few years and many of them returned their gallantry medals and other citations to the President as a mark of protest.

‘One rank-one pension’ implies that uniform pension be paid to the armed forces personnel retiring in the same rank with same length of service irrespective of their date of retirement and any future enhancement in the rates of pension to be automatically passed on to the past pensioners. This means bridging the gap between the rate of pension of current pensioners and the past pensioners. Click Here to read further..

Married Daughters Entitled for Dependent Certificates: HC

As per the source published in TOI on 19th of December, 2011, Punjab and Haryana high court has struck down a 'gender-biased' policy of the Haryana government which had excluded married daughters of ex-servicemen from getting dependent certificates.

"A girl is as good a child of her father as the married son. Such policies of the state would offend right of equality and amounts to discriminatory treatment to a married daughter, who is without an independent source of livelihood, by depriving her of a dependent certificate to secure a job," the HC held.

As per the existing policy, only a married dependent son of ex-serviceman, who does not have independent source of livelihood, was eligible for dependent certificate but a married daughter was not.

Rejecting the Haryana government's argument that married daughter is dependent on her husband, the bench held, "In the case of dependent married son, no condition has been imposed that his wife must not be earning."

Directing the state to amend the said policy dated October 11, 2001, the bench also observed that even Hindu Succession Act, 1956, has been amended and now the daughter of a coparcener have the same rights and liabilities in the coparcenery property as she would have had she been a son.

Following the order, now married daughter of ex-servicemen who do not have independent source of livelihood will also be eligible for dependent certificate from the Rajya Sainik Boards to get a government job.

The order was passed by a division bench of the HC comprising Justice M M Kumar and Justice Rajiv Narain Raina, while hearing a petition filed by a retired Naval personnel, Jai Narain Jakhar.

The petitioner had challenged the order of October 27, 2009 passed by the Rajya Sainik Board, Haryana rejecting his application for issuance of dependent certificate to his married daughter and directions to issue her ex-serviceman dependent certificate.

Contesting the petition, the Haryana government had taken a stand that a married daughter would be dependent on her husband and not on her father, therefore, in the policy a married daughter of the ex-serviceman has not been held entitled to the dependent certificate. Source: TOINews.

Devadiga among the veterans honoured in Moodubelle

Moodubelle: On December 16, 2011, being the 50th and 40th anniversaries of  the Wars of Liberation of Goa and Bangladesh respectively and in order to commemorate these two momentous historical events of great significance, the Lions Club of Moodubelle under the leadership of the Founder President, MJF Ln. Commodore  Jerome Castelino organized a memorial function, during which the War Memorial built by Commodore Castelino in his courtyard was inaugurated by the District Governor MJF Ln. Jayakar Shetty Indrali. Later, during the stage function held in  the Lions Seva Bhavan, Moodubelle, 34 Ex-servicemen from the Udupi District who had actively participated  in Goa Liberation War (1961) and Bangladesh War (1971) were honoured.

Ex-servicemen of Udupi district, who had actively participated in these two wars, were honoured on this occasion. They are Subedar Major Alex D’Almeida, Naib Subedar Achutha Rao, Wing Commander A S Bhojaraj, Sqn Ldr K L Baliga, Craftsman Bhaskar Kini, Commodore Jerome Castelino VSM, Sergant Chandrashekhar Suvarna, Subedar Clement D’Silva, Ldg Seaman Diwakar Devadiga, Corporal P Dinesh Naik, Corporal Desmond Fernandes, Master Warrant officer Frederick Noronha, Hon Capt Gopalkrishna Prabhu, Naik Gopal Shetty, Sepoy Henry Quadros, Havaldar Jagannath Bangera, Hon Subedar Major Kutty Shetty, Sapper Koragappa Kundar, Naib Subedar M K Kumar, Corporal H M Kamath, Corporal Monthu Adrian D’Souza, Hon Naib Subedar U Panduranga, Hon Subedar P Raghu Shetty, Gunner B Rama, Colonel B Ramachandra Rao, Subedar Robert D’Sa, Air Vice Marshal K Ramesh Karnik, Corporal B K Salian, Corporal Simon Piad D’Souza, Sergeant K P Talwar, Lt Col Victor F D’Souza, Hon Subedar Major Vittal Nayak, Aircraftsman Walter Rosario and Havaldar William Barboza.

Picture credits to: Bellevision.com (to see more pictures Click Here)
Ex-servicemen's names as published in: Mangalorean.com (to read full story Click Here)

Ex-servicemen Join OROP Campaign in Delhi

Pune: Joining the nationwide campaign for One Rank One Pension, members of Indian Ex Servicemen Movement (IESM) from the city participated in a rally in New Delhi on Saturday 12th of Nov 2011. With signatures signed with blood and medals in their hands to be returned to the President, over 3,000 ex-servicemen reiterated their demands of One Rank One Pension (OROP), National Commission for the Armed Forces and an Independent and Exclusive Pay Commission for the Armed Forces. Over 10 members from the city had joined the campaign with a few taking part in the delegation that wanted to meet President Pratibha Patil but could not do so.


“This is a serious issue and the government has not been taking due notice of the ex-servicemens’ demands. We now plan to intensify the movement. The ideal outcome of today’s movement will be to go back to our states and build up individual rallies to generate pressure on the government,” said Brigadier (retd) Sharad Luktuke, member, IESM, speaking to Newsline from Delhi. The rally that began at 10.15 am at Jantar Mantar concluded around 3 pm.


A press release issued by IESM said, “The Defence veterans, their families and supporters have now resolved to intensify their protest movement across the country to highlight the grave injustice which the Centre is doing to them by not accepting their genuine demands in total disregard to the services rendered by the erstwhile soldiers. The graver injustice has been done to Defence widows, who are in receipt of family pension, by excluding them from the ambit of enhancement of pensions of JCOs and Other Ranks carried out in Mar 2010.” Source:http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Ex-servicemen-from-city-join-OROP-campaign-in-Delhi/874999/

Quick and Accurate Disbursement of Pension to Ex-Servicemen

For information of Defence Pensioners

Government of India has taken a number of  decisions to improve the benefits of defence pensioners. The most  recent improvements are implementation of the 6th Central Pay Commission Report and further improvements as per Cabinet Secretary Committee’s Report.


2. In order to enable Defence pensioners to know their correct entitlement as a result of various Govt. orders,  the  Controller  General  of  Defence  Accounts  (CGDA)  has  developed  a software  called “Suvigya”.  This software requires some minimum inputs to be provided about the pensioner (e.g. date of discharge/ retirement, rank / group, qualifying service, date of birth, initial pension etc.).  On the basis of this information, “Suvigya” shows the changes in pension as a result of different revisions and the latest pension entitlements.  The software also provides for taking print-out of the result.


3. “Suvigya”  software has been installed in the offices of Rajya / Zila Sainik Boards and Defence Pension Disbursement Offices (DPDOs) in a phased manner. Defence pensioners can approach any of these offices (irrespective of where they reside or the agency from which they draw their pension) to know their correct entitlements through “Suvigya”.  In case they are not being paid their pension as per entitlement, they may take up the matter with their Pension Disbursing Agencies.Source:http://www.davp.nic.in, http://www.davp.nic.in/WriteReadData/ADS/eng_10406_1_1112b.pdf

TNEB to Recruit 75 more Ex-servicemen to Crackdown Power Theft

CHENNAI: Ex-servicemen who were roped into the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) have cracked 1,004 cases of power theft in a month and levied fines worth Rs 227.73 lakh on erring consumers across the state. Impressed by their work, the TNEB has decided to recruit 75 more ex-servicemen to crackdown on power theft. 


In her election manifesto, chief minister J Jayalalithaa had said ex-servicemen will be hired to curtail energy theft. Soon after, 25 teams of ex-servicemen were formed and trained from September 26 to October 1 to detect electricity theft/misuse in 25 distribution circles prone to theft. 


Each team comprises five ex-servicemen. They were trained to detect power theft, the basics of electricity flow, how meters can be tampered with and other technical details. The Coimbatore and Namakkal squads have levied fines to the tune of Rs 19 lakh. 


TheMadurai metro andChennai south teams have levied fines to the tune of Rs 16 lakh, and Dharmapuri and Trichy, Rs 15 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, respectively. Most of these cases related to tampered meters andillegalcollections.The additional 15 squads will be formedtodetecttheftin 15distribution circles. 


Theft is a major part of the state's transmission and distribution lossesthattake away 18% of all power generation. "Crores of rupees can be saved by detecting power theft.Theboard'sfinancialsituation will improve to a great extent," said a source. Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/10851781.cms

Halted Projects Taken up at General House Meet

Nominated councillors of the MC, on Friday, complained that proposed projects were lying incomplete. The issue was raised during the meeting of the General House. Due to the code of conduct, no development agenda items were discussed.


Nominated councillor, Brig K S Chandpuri said that he had been demanding that the quota for ex-servicemen in Class 3 and 4 posts be filled. “Even though the Centre has approved the posts, recruitment is not being done,” he said. Mayor Ravinder Pal Singh Pali stated that permission was still awaited from the Administration on the issue.


Brig Chandpuri also complained about the proposed international stadium which has seen no construction eventhough it has received approval from the MC


Councillor Dr Pam Rajput stated that the project of Mahila Bhawan should be completed at the earliest. The proposal was mooted in the beginning of this term, but no construction has been done.


Dr Pam Rajput, while recalling the past five years in the House, said that the atmosphere of acrimony that was created should be avoided in the next term. “Decisions should not be taken on party basis,” said the doctor.


With the polls due next month, accusations were hurled by elected representatives. Councillor Harjinder Kaur said that work for carpeting roads was stopped in her ward after a complaint was made due to political considerations. Chief Engineer S S Bida said that the work would be started soon.


It was decided that the MC will be starting a pilot project for garbage collection from Sector 22. The details will be worked by the Finance and Contract Committee. Source:http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Stalled-projects-taken-up-at-General-House-meet/880687/

Paramilitary Men Demand for Pay Equality

KANNUR: The All India Central Para-Military Forces Ex-Servicemen Welfare Association will hold a general body meeting on Sunday at the A R Camp Auditorium here to pressure the central government to look into their grievances.


Office bearers of the association said at a press meet here on Friday that injustice was being meted out to nearly 11 lakh paramilitary men in service and seven lakh ex-servicemen and their families.


These men are serving in difficult regions fighting anti-nationals and extremist forces, but the soldiers in CRPF, BSF, ITBP, SSB and Assam Rifles were being discriminated against, not being given benefits on par with other defence forces, they alleged.


These forces come under the home ministry, but when it comes to salary and other benefits, they get a step-motherly treatment from the government, they said, adding that unlike defence personnel, paramilitary personnel and the members of their families don't get any medical benefits.


They are demanding that they too be given salary and pension benefits on par with men of other defence services. The one-rank-one-pension scheme should be implemented for them as well, the office bearers said. Following their persistent demand, the Centre has now provided them some facilities, including the provision to get essential goods through the central police canteen.


And the Kerala government has added its bit by abolishing the value added tax (VAT) for goods bought from these canteens, they said.The Central Para-Military Forces Ex-Servicemen Welfare Association has alleged that the government is ignoring the demands of the paramilitary forces like CRPF, BSF, ITBP, SSB, Assam Rifles though they work in the difficult regions fighting the anti-nationals and extremist forces.


While addressing a press conference here on Friday, the association office bearers said the government is doing injustice to the nearly 11 lakh people now working in these forces and also seven lakh ex-servicemen and their families.


Though these forces, which are under the Home Ministry, guard the nation from the intruders as well as the militant forces, when it comes to the salary and other benefits, they get a step-motherly attitude from the government, alleged the association.


They demanded the paramilitary force personnel should also get salary and pension benefits at par with that of other defence forces, and also the one rank one pension scheme should be implemented for them as well.


Also, the association said that unlike the defence personnel, those who work in these forces or their family members don't get any medical benefits.


They said, following their persistent demand the government has now given some facilities including the provision to get essential goods through the central police canteen and also, the Kerala government has abolished the value added tax (VAT) for the articles distributed via these canteens.


The association will hold a general body meeting on November 27 at the A R Camp Auditorium to press the central government to look into their demands, said the office bearers. Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-11-26/kochi/30444664_1_defence-personnel-office-bearers-defence-forces

Ex-Servicemen to Handle Parkings

Fed up with constant complaints of parking attendants fleecing the public, the MCD will be roping in the services of ex-servicemen to rein in the parking mafia in the city. The agency will allot 42 of its parking sites to ex-servicemen. “To begin with, 12 such sites would be given to them, but we are also planning to give them 30 other sites as there were no takers for these lots after we attached new conditions like the use of hand-held machines,” said ASA Khan, in charge of Remunerative Project cell of MCD. On Saturday, the civic agency called for tenders asking ex-servicemen to apply till December 21.


These parking sites are located in areas such as Jhandewalan, Chandni  Chowk, Shahdara and Pitampura, among others.


“We had received a number of complaints from the public about being overcharged or attendants arguing with them. We want to put an end to that. The ex-servicemen are trained staff and they will be able to deal with such miscreants,” said a senior MCD official.


Delhi’s Lt-Governor had mooted this idea of engaging ex-servicemen to man parking lots. Though the initial plan was to hand over all the parking sites to them but due to opposition from MCD’s political wing, the number was restricted. Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Ex-servicemen-to-handle-parkings/Article1-774548.aspx